Monday, February 25, 2008

SEO Writing Jobs & The Saga of the $25 Press Release Client

In Friday’s post, I promised to tell you the story of the client who tried to pay $25 for a press release, instead of $125. Here goes . . .

The Saga of the $25 Press Release Client

This client called me on a weekend. I specifically remember it was a Sunday because I was coming back from the grocery store and was preparing to take groceries out of the car.

The Grocery Story is My Good Luck Charm

As an aside, I seem to get called a lot in the grocery store. The first serious inquiry I ever got for SEO writing was a client who called me while I was grocery shopping in WalMart. We spent a good 10 minutes talking, and I had to tell him to excuse the announcement for sale items coming over the loud speaker. He chuckled at that and right then, I knew he was going to be cool to work with. That’s proven to be the case.

But, I digress . . . back to this, the $25 press release client.

So I’m getting ready to step out of my car to unload bags and my phone rings. I did deep in the recesses of my purse, and finally locate my phone. I answer it and am surprised because it’s a potential client – calling on a Sunday. Not many do this.

Cold Emailing Works!

He tells me he got my email (I cold email a lot) and was impressed with my credentials, yadda, yadda, yadda. He owns an internet marketing firm and needs me to do some press releases for his clients. He tells me he’ll start me off with one first, to see how it goes. And, if all goes well, he’ll be using me for other stuff as well, eg, article writing, etc.

I’m psyched, of course.

NOTE: We don’t discuss price, because I assume he’s viewed my site from the link I sent him and knows what it costs (this will come back to haunt me).

Later on that evening, I log on to see if he sent the project, but nothing. I’m not worried though. As he called on a Sunday and seemed in a bit of a rush, I just assumed that he would send it.
He sends it the next day, and gives me a couple of days to get it back to him.

If you’ll remember from Friday’s post, I told you the reason he wanted me to write the release is because the company sold a product for the home construction industry. They sent me two versions of the press release they wanted me to revise. One was written by them (it was too long), and the other was written by their client (it was too technical and too long).

Typical Press Release Writing Problems from Clients That You’ll Be Called on To Fix (read the entire post here.)

Tomorrow’s Post
More on this client and upselling, plus a few more observations I took away from this experience (after 15+ years, I’m still amazed at the knowledge I pick up, client by client).

SEO Writing Jobs
Following are a few SEO writing jobs I quickly located on the net. I get a lot of queries asking me where to find work (many still have trouble knowing where to start). I think it’s because they don’t know exactly what types of jobs to look for. So, I’m going to start listing a few jobs in each post just to show you the kinds of things I apply for sometimes.

Staff Copy/Content Writers: http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/wri/577284903.html

Writer Needed for Classic Mustang Site: site http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/wri/585852583.html

NYC Corporate Blogger & Market Researcher: http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/wri/585734805.html

Freelance Writers Needed for Guy-oriented Wedding Web Site:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/wri/584450441.html

Sales Letter Writer: http://www.scriptlance.com/projects/1203947906.shtml

Need NHL Articles: http://www.scriptlance.com/projects/1203947515.shtml

Article Writer Needed: http://www.scriptlance.com/projects/1203901121.shtml

Happy Monday everybody!

Yuwanda Black, Publisher
http://inkwelleditorial.com/
http://inkwelleditorial.blogspot.com/
http://seo-article-writer.com/
http://seo-articles-for-sale.com/
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